google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, Apr 18th, 2015, Barry C. Silk

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Apr 18, 2015

Saturday, Apr 18th, 2015, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie~!

Words: 70 (missing F,J,Q,X)

Blocks: 27

  I have to say, I was much in the mood for a Silkie today, having been roughed up over the past few weeks.  Really looking forward to finishing without a cheat, but alas, it was not to be - again.  Had just one, a proper name, but it cleared up the otherwise locked-up, poorly WAGed NW corner.  There's always next Saturday....Bit of a change in our usual grid, having triple 7-letter stacks in the down to start, and the longer, triple 9-letter acrosses over to the right.  Always seems "easier" when the first clue is not a huge span of white.  Some 8-letter circumferential fills in the center, too;

29a. Citizens Bank Park team : PHILLIES - I had the --LIES, and that was enough, considering I am not a big baseball fan.  I was over my buddy Mike's house last night, and he tuned into the Yankee game; sorry, C.C., it just doesn't hold my attention....  :7(  The NY Rangers of hockey are up 1-0 in their series against another Pennsylvania team, the hated Penguins; the Islanders are tied 1-1 with the Washington Capitals.  I plan to play hockey this coming week; the head feels better

37a. Youthful nickname for the 1950 29-Across : WHIZ KIDS - before my time









ACROSS:

1. Chaps : LADS - I sensed this was a 'male buddy' clue, not the leather pants type; went with GUYS, as I was trying some GUN fills for 1d.

5. Measure up : PASS MUSTER

15. "My Country" author : EBAN - dah~!  dah~!! DAH~!!!  Had to look this up; should have rung a bell, it's been a standard crossword clue for some time

16. Busy, in a way : ON THE PHONE - but you don't get a "busy" signal much these days

17. Stellar phenomenon : NOVA

18. Wheel of Fortune and others : TAROT CARDS - I was going to put this in, and thought, no, it's a TV game show thing.  Dang~!  I own a deck of tarot cards; keep them wrapped in silk ( hi, there, constructor~! ) per the book I bought on how to maintain and read the cards

19. Error : SLIP - had FLUB.  That's an error.

20. Oil sources : OLIVES - had O----ES,  so it was not "SHALES"

21. Airport NW of PIT : CLEveland

22. 1975-'76 World Series champs, on scoreboards : CINcinnati; I lived there from '97 to 2000; worked on my first movie set there - as for the baseball team, I recall the Big Red Machine, and I went and looked for my old baseball sticker album - I hope I can redeem myself, C.C.

23. Called, nowadays : SKYPED - my other buddy Mike regularly Skypes with China as he continues to do well with his game company; I present my game to him tonight when we get together for a long overdue bonfire

24. Not abundant : THIN - (sigh) like my hair

25. Recording acronym : ASCAP

27. Piece of Plymouth pizza? : ZED - P-I-Zed-Zed-A

28. Former National Security Advisor Scowcroft : BRENT - I WAGed tRENT

31. Picks up : RAISES

32. Alley group : PINS - Bowling

33. Barber's supply : TALC - Nailed it, but that's not saying much

34. Emotional : MOVING

41. Opposite of après : AVANT - Frawnche after and before

42. Monopoly item : DIE - not HAT; I always played the wheelbarrow, so I had something to carry my "cash" around


43. '30s-'40s Kildare portrayer : AYRES

44. Canada goose relative : NENE
 
45. Kind of acid in red wine : TANNIC - Ha~! I knew this one

47. Canadian sign letters : KPH - Kilometres/hour

48. Indian address : SRI

49. Cleaned up : DUSTED

50. Symbolic dance : HULA - or HORA~? I guessed wrong

51. Jackson 5 song covered by Mariah Carey : "I'LL BE THERE"

53. Sch. whose mascot is Paydirt Pete : UTEP - got this one, too - I can remember some past clues

54. Canadian asset : OIL RESERVE

55. Town near Padua : ESTE

56. Some lucky breaks : NEAR MISSES

57. Slate, briefly : SKED - quick way to schedule

DOWN:   

1. Shooter's protection : LENS CAP - got me; not thinking photography

2. Wipe out : ABOLISH

3. Fictional code name : Da VINCI - I liked the book and the movie

4. Piece of cake : SNAP - Dah~!  SLAB worked with my FLUB

5. "The Chosen" author : POTOK - I knew this one, too, because my friend Ibby gave me the book

6. Breaks down : ANALYZES

7. Road markings : STRIPES - I noticed yesterday that one of the local roads had fresh stripes painted - you'd think the potholes would have been the priority....

8. Left, with "off" : SHOVED

9. Doled (out) : METED

10. Bar IDs : UPCs

11. Oldies syllable : SHA

12. Flashlights, across the pond : TORCHES - parents are English, knew this

13. Court boundary : END LINE

14. Is in high dudgeon : RESENTS - this is the "#1 killer" of AA members; I harbor some resentments, still, even after a decade

23. Support piece : SPLINT - almost a gratuitous self shout-out

24. Requiring delicate handling : TRICKY

26. Skiing category : ALPINE

28. "The Human Comedy" author : BALZAC - the Wiki

30. Big initials in banking : ING - my IRA started out in ING; it's now Capital One 360

31. Italian counterpart of the BBC : RAI

33. Offended outburst : "THE NERVE~!"

34. Kennedy Compound component : MANSION

35. Blanket : OVERLIE

36. Plain-__ : VANILLA

37. Mearth portrayer in "Mork & Mindy" : WINTERS


38. Siberian metropolis : IRKUTSK - got it because I played a lot of RISK when I was a kid


39. Exhaust : DEPLETE

40. Like some curves : S-SHAPED - nice fill

42. Causes for pauses : DASHES

45. Rwandan ethnic group : TUTSI - all perps

46. Inventeur's notes : IDEES - more Frawnche; ideas

49. Judge : DEEM

50. Shades : HUES - I read your warning, Argyle, but couldn't resist; thankfully, HEartRx did not actually post a "hosiery" pic; I was going to go with a hunky guy for the ladies this week, but I have to make up for Thursday's 'tragedy'


52. Hardly a warm reaction : Brr - I officially put my gloves, car window scraper and winter coats away for the season

Splynter

54 comments:

  1. Early on, I could tell this Silkie was not for me. Finished only because I looked up a lot of answers.

    It's a tough Saturday when you look up the answers and they're not even to be found. That's good clueing, I guess.

    I suppose if I had had an infinite amount of time, I could have prevailed, but I didn't feel the excitement today. Bad categories for me: authors (especially of fiction), old baseball teams, etc.

    But at least it was a learning day. Hope my pea-sized brain can hold all of what I researched.

    Very nice write-up, Splynter. Glad you put away the cold weather gear.

    90s here today... should make tennis enjoyable. Speaking of which, ENDLINE should have been BASELINE, but then... I've never heard a court boundary called endline, but so what, right? It's all good.

    Happy Saturday, all.

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  2. BTW, the NENE (goose) is Hawaii's state bird. But I always favored the I'iwi. Everytime I go to HI, I look for an i"iwi but have not seen one yet. Don't want to say toooo much and get back into an auk argument. I'm pretty sure the iiwi is not extinct, so i'll keep looking.

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  3. Morning, all!

    This one was well out of my wheelhouse, I'm afraid. Too many sports clues, too many obscure authors, actors, cities, etc.

    I doomed myself in the NE by confidently putting in GUYS at 1A and GUNSAFE at 1D. Since I didn't know EBAN from Adam and couldn't get CIN or PHILLIES from the clues, I had no way of knowing they were incorrect.

    I also went with NORDIC instead of ALIPNE at 26D, which hid MOVING, MANSION and NENE from view. If only I had remembered AVANT! Stupid French...

    Ah well, I made a valiant effort and did managed to get some of the tricky stuff. Knew BALZAC and MEARTH, for what it's worth.

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  4. Enjoyable Silkie. Slow start but once I got a foothold made steady progress. NW corner slowed me a bit. I too forgot EBAN.

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  5. Beaten. Stuck with it most of the way and nearly got it, but beaten in the end.

    Took many many wags that turned out right, like UPCs, Cin, Cle and Sri. But was lacking the K and S in Irkutsk, and looked it up. Then, I'd earlier tried Hutus where Tutsi belonged, and I got it all straightened out except the H.

    So, one bad cell and one lookup for two letters, but I'll take it as hard as this one was.

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  6. Good morning!

    The top half of this one went pretty fast. The bottom half, not so much. Not at all. My LOVING/LANDING had to morph into MOVING/MANSION and OVERLAY to OVERLIE before I could see anything down south. Plus I hung onto COMMAS far too long before DASHES limped in. The game went into overtime, but the home team won.

    Remembered Lew AYRES from old-timey TV. In the early days there was some stupid rule that no movie less than 10 years old could be shown on TV, so we had lots of 30's/40's stuff on the tube. At the time, I thought those original Dr. Kildare movies were pretty good.

    I see that the official Las Vegas theme song made the puzzle -- I'LL BET HERE.

    Splynter, congrats on having an IRA. Too many folks from your generation haven't started to save for retirement. The earlier, the better.

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  7. This was intimidating due to the sea of white, but solving time ended up as fairly good for a Saturday.

    Forgot about "My Country" and ING (even though, like Splynter, I had an account there before it became CapitalOne360). Being a Red Sox fan was an advantage: PHILLIES was easy because the Sox just played a series there, and I know all too well who won the World Series in '75. I remember the wonderful Jonathan Winters from Mork & Mindy. Like Splynter, familiar with IRKUTSK from youthful Risk games.

    Nice misdirections, especially Wheel of Fortune, oil sources, busy, cleaned up.

    Speaking of MOVING, I saw "Woman in Gold" last night. Definitely recommended, especially so if you saw "Monument Men".

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  8. Splynter, I'm glad to see you have recovered from the Thursday horror. I was wondering which clue would prompt you to post your favorite type of pic, but I had guessed "Like some curves."

    Oh well, at least I finished the puzzle correctly. I had enough of a toehold in each sector to allow other answers to flow out. Gimmes with ALPINE and TANNIC (natch!!).

    But in the SE, it took me the longest time to get rid of UNLV for "Sch. whose mascot is Paydirt Pete." I thought Vegas would be the more likely place to hit paydirt than El Paso. For some reason, KPH finally straightened out that whole corner. Go figure.

    We are going to see Shen Yun this evening. I have heard a lot about them, and their story is fascinating.

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  9. Hello Puzzlers -

    Started out looking grim, only a few toeholds on a canvas of white. Didn't know the baseball clues, of course, but after a while I remembered Balzac. From the Z alone I was able to guess Whiz Kids, which gave enough anchors to make real progress. Managed a genuine no-peeky in the end.

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  10. Good morning, everyone! Mr. Silk wins this round. I only managed to finish with lots of red-letter help and a Google or two, so no claim to victory here. Thanks for an entertaining write-up, Splynter. Good luck “pitching” your game this evening.

    Despite being flummoxed by unknown proper names such as IRKUTSK, EBAN, and POTOK, there was still fun to be had. CIN at 22A was a gimme for this Reds’ Country native. I was totally in game-show mode for 18A, so TAROT CARDS was a nice surprise when it revealed itself. At first I wanted some kind of vest for “Shooter’s Protection”, but then _ _ _ _ C _ P made me wonder if our shooter needed a protective cup; luckily, he only needed a LENSCAP. Since both daughters live in distant cities, we’ve SKYPED often to stay in touch.

    Have a wonderful weekend, all!

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  11. Good Morning.

    It was nice to see Mr. Silk today. Good call Splynter. I also found the past couple of Fridays and Saturdays a test.

    First entry today was NOVA. When I saw the grid I gasped but rolled on! After a slow start and picking up a few letters here and then, it was a pretty good run. Love the word dudgeon. Favorite V-8 clue was Plymouth pizza's ZED! Good one!

    Have a great day, everyone.

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  12. Good Morning:

    I thought this might be one of the rare Silkie's which end up a DNF, but, as usual, stubbornness and determination ruled the day. It took me longer than the last few by Barry, but, eventually, the TADA came w/o any help. The Northwest corner was the last to fall.

    Like Splynter, I had slab/flub and also had tidied/dusted, tutus/Tutsi, Aryes/Ayres. Perps finally corrected all of the errors and I was home free, even though it took a while!

    Marti, judging by the schedule, it looks like a trip to Providence for you. How long of a drive is that?

    Thanks, Mr. Silk and Mr. Splynter, for a challenging and satisfying Saturday sojourn.

    Have a great day.

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  13. For some reason I found this one pretty easy, especially for a Saturday Silkie. Filled it in with pen in about a half hour with no write-overs. Yep, I'm kind of a big deal.

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  14. Week after week, Barry frustrates the devil out of me early but after gaining a foothold, they all PASS MUSTER and provide a great feeling of getting ‘er done! Today’s foothold was PHILLES/WHIZ KIDS (They had Richie Ashburn from Tilden, NE).

    Musings
    -SKYPE was big for me in the hospital. Somehow our kitty always managed to get into the picture!
    -Some speculate that Jordan Spieth’s biggest concern at 21 is his THINNING hair
    -Are DIE/DICE and datum/data the most misused plurals?
    -This is a DUST-off in baseball
    -When you know HULA and HUES at the same time but put them in the wrong direction…
    -600,000 people died in an effort to ABOLISH a disgrace in our country
    -I wonder what Spitz would say is the most exotic port where he “SHOVED OFF”
    -How ‘bout this UPC scam?
    -On a British night you’d need a TORCHE to change a tyre you get out of your boot
    -Trying to avoid high dudgeon has made my life easier
    -Arranging a funeral for my BIL when his mother and wife were at each other’s throats was TRICKY, but I got it done
    -3 day weather forecast in Irkutsk, Russia for its 600,000 residents

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  15. Like Splynter, looked forward to doing this Silkie before starting, but was not on his wavelenth this morning. Too many bad guesses left the top third pretty much bare. You win, today, Mr. Silk! But I did appreciate the challenge.

    Splynter, very nice write-up, and enjoyed your links.

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  16. Wow. A typical Silkie with authors and I'm intimidated from the start. Not my forte. So after two lookups things flowed better. It was really the SE that slapped me silly. Refused to give up Hora, didn't like SS together, clueless on Irkutsk and didn't recognize sked (had slab).

    Tutsi was my first fill, not Hutus for a very good reason. I recently read a story in Boston Magazine from the April issue called The Monster Next Door. It's about a NH woman claiming to be a Rwandan genocide refugee, and the pursuit of the truth by an FBI agent who suspected differently. It is the most bone chilling story I have read in years, and I was distracted and bothered during solving, and still am. An unbelievable story worth reading.

    It is easy to find on the web. I'm including a link but I'm new at this, and don't know if it's even allowed. C.C. feel free to edit my entire post. Have a nice day y'all.
    http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/article/2015/03/24/rwandan-genocide/

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  17. A nit. Tannins are not acids.

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  18. Husker G @ 10:22

    I think the Irkutsk temps are in Celsius; still cool but not too bad. Not sure I'd want to be resident #600,001 though ...

    "Puzzling Thoughts":

    As much as the previous days' puzzles were speed runs, this "Silkie" was like jogging in mud. Got just two of the spanners (PHILLIES, WHIZ KIDS) and then resorted to googles. Was determined to finish, but even after doing so, I doubt I will recall the answers. I'm actually hoping that certain answers will NEVER appear again! (IRKUTSK, POTOK, and TUTSI come to mind)

    Limerick as promised:

    This puzzle by Silk was a "buster",
    And I, for one, couldn't PASS MUSTER.
    And try, though I might,
    I didn't feel "bright",
    Call me MATTE, 'cause I just lack luster!

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  19. Anon@11:50 -- See the Distribution paragraph in this link.

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  20. Another Saturday Silkie slog. Not complaining, mind you. I enjoyed it a lot. First pass through didn't yield much, but it did deliver enough toeholds to start chipping away. And that's the way it went for 35 minutes. Get a toehold and chip away, get a toehold and chip away until the tada.

    Only complete unknowns were POTOK and RAI. Perps to the rescue. Remembered Abba EBAN from college composition course. We had to read an essay of his and I was blown away by his command of the English language.

    Splynter, the shooter could be a rifleman with a telescope.

    That is all for today. Back to yard work.

    Cya!

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  21. I had to use red letters for most fills. I think I got so frazzled that I lost my mind. I am FROM Cleveland but I kept wanting to fill it with CAK, Akron-Canton airport.

    Well, we have a nice sunny day today and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony!

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  22. Remember this t-shirt??

    I wore it proudly, circa 1971.

    Found during my search: cute 1

    Found during my search: cute 2

    Found during my search: cute 3

    Yes ladies, It is great being a little boy.

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  23. Hello, Word Wizards! Enjoyable review, Splynter, thank you.

    And thank you, Mr. Silk! Though it wasn't "smooth as Silk" I eventually found his wave length with a few toeholds. TORCHES was my first fill thanks to reading many British novels.

    Meandering south, with MANSION in place then OVERLAY/OVERLIE the entire SW filled. Knew TUTSI from watching Hotel Rwanda some time ago. Some movies like that just stay with you. Tragic.

    POTOK came to mind but when in doubt I check on it. BRENT wasn't even on my radar, had to look it up. I never heard of Risk much less played it, so IRKUTSK was completely unknown and I mussed the K, had MPH. Drat! I know better.

    As always, I enjoyed the challenge.

    Have a delightful Saturday, everyone! Gorgeous weather here in he 80s.

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  24. Whoops. Forgot to add.

    not so cute

    I think this one is a girl.

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  25. I could not solve this magnificent puzzle without looking up some of the author names. Once I got those, however, it was chip away chip away chip away. Little by little is how I often work Barry Silk puzzles.
    Had WHALES instead of OLIVES until POTOK (which I had to look up) put the kibosh on that.
    Some excellent cluing.
    And, no, it was not Plain TALKING.
    Best wishes to you all.

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  26. Weekly puzzle completion time report:

    Mon. 00:15
    Tues 00:20
    Wed 00:25
    Thurs ???
    Fri @#%&*!
    Sat...

    Oh nuts! Desperotto You beat me to it...

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  27. P.S.

    Anon @ 12:23/36

    Cute 1, 2 &3?

    I don't appreciate some Whiz Kid stealing my act...

    :)

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  28. For you baseball fans - of which I used to be one - here is a link to the MLBaseball Stadiums from 1950-1959. I think that Shibe Park - where the Phillies played - was either renamed Connie Mack Stadium, or the venue changed, in the 1960's.

    Interesting to see the attendance swings. Not surprising that Milwaukee had huge numbers when they became home to the Braves. But things obviously changed dramatically in the '60's when the franchise moved to Atlanta. Where, of course, Hank Aaron ultimately surpassed Babe Ruth as all-time HR leader. Considering the fact Aaron never used steroids, I still think of him as the leader in that category ...

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  29. Mo@ 1:47 PM

    During the 50's there were 16 Major league teams, eight in the Nat'l League & 8 in the AL. You listed 14 Stadiums, which is quite correct, but I wonder if the attendance figures are only for one team or two.

    The Browns and Cards both played @ Sportsman Park & the Phillies & Athletics both played @ Shibe. The Browns left for Baltimore after the '53 season and the A's for KC after the '54 season.

    Soon, just wondering and I'm too tired to look it up.

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  30. Moe's limerick describes me today. Too much looking up spolied my fun.

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  31. I don't know why this site got infested with limericks, and I keep hoping for a vaccine, but I have to admit that Moe's was pretty good.

    I can only hope this doesn't encourage him. That's not my intent.

    Stop the madness!

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  32. Hurricane @ 2:22

    Good catch! (Pun intended) I am guessing that the attendance for both Philadelphia AND St Louis are for both teams that shared the stadium - if you noticed, this site showed the separate Boston team's attendance, as the Braves did not play in Fenway.

    Anon@2:30

    Many years ago I used to have a Crossword Puzzle dictionary (thick paperback book). It was a reference for me whenever I needed some "help", and usually I could find the answer. Now, with so many Internet sources, looking up an answer is almost too simple. I don't know if some constructors are adding more obscure clues to their puzzles, but I certainly have more fun with a puzzle when I can get a TADA without any cheats

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  33. Wow. The hardest puzzle I can remember in some time, even for a Silkie. Actually have solved the last few Silkies with no issue, so I was feeling confident.

    That'll teach me.

    I WILL NOT solve by looking stuff up on the Internet, so I guess I was doomed. Much too much stuff I just plain didn't know or couldn't get.

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  34. Lime @ 3:03:

    Thanks for the "left-handed" compliment

    For the record, there have been maybe two or three limericks this entire month by either me or Owen (who's gone missing; hope he's OK)

    Also for the record, when I first appeared here not quite a year ago, limericks were almost a daily item and no one was complaining then

    But to your point - and unless I guessed wrong on your "left-handed compliment" - I am not making limericks a daily routine. But FWIW, I've had several posters email me to say "thanks" for injecting some humour to the Corner.

    I''m not a huge fan of certain things some posters do, but I choose to ignore them than call them out publicly

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  35. R.I.P.

    I just learned that our friend, Dodo, aka, Dorothy Dodson, passed away this past Tuesday. Her daughter called me when she found my number on D's telephone. May she rest in peace. She was a lovely and lively person and she hosted the Blog "sisters" for lunch the past four summers. She was 89, I believe.

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  36. Lucina, thank you for that information. May she rest in peace.

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  37. I am very sorry to hear this news.

    I found this posting as a note from CC 10/29/2011:

    Happy 86th birthday to our witty and caring Dodo (L-R back row: Chickie, Clear Ayes, Garlic Gal; Front: JD, Lucina, Dodo). The photo is from their June 23, 2011 gathering.

    We will miss you Dodo.

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  38. CED:
    Thank you so much for posting that. We really enjoyed those gatherings and I believe Dodo looked forward to them. She would save her guest lunch coupons every month so we could all eat in their dining room. She lived in a beautiful retirement community in Stockton. I will miss her dearly.

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  39. I generally do the Saturday puzzle either online with red letters or with a cheat sheet of the puzzle answers. This keeps me from getting frustrated or wasting all day. I consider using my OED dictionary on my Kindle as not cheating.

    For this puzzle I was only able to get NOVA, METED, SHA, TORCHES [just read a Dick Francis book], WINTERS, IDEES AND HUES without help.

    The Wikipedia article on Tannic Acid says:"While tannic acid is a specific type of tannin (plant polyphenol), the two terms are sometimes (incorrectly) used interchangeably. The long standing misuse of the terms, and its inclusion in scholarly articles has compounded the confusion. This is particularly widespread in relation to green tea and black tea, both of which contain tannin but not tannic acid.[1]" I am not a wine expert but I am not sure there was a nit to pick here,

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  40. Oh dear God. All this petty bickering and we just long a long time member, Dodo. Can't we put our petty differences aside? Thank you, Chairman and Owen for your limericks. Thank you Jerome for your anagrams. Thank you HG and CED for you hilarious and informative links. God bless you all.

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  41. Thank you Dave for posting Dodo's picture.I feel that we were very blessed to have crossed paths with both Dodo and Clear Ayes . RIP ladies.

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  42. Rainman @5:40AM

    The I'iwi is alive and well on Maui. You can see them in Hosmer Grove just inside the entrance to Haleakala National Park. Take the nature trail thru the Eucalyptus trees and stop at the valley overlook. Sit/stand quietly and watch for them to fly by or land on the flowers. We stop to see them every February when we visit Maui.

    Greg

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  43. Thanks Lucina. I'm sure sorry to find out about Dodo. I will miss her. Best wishes for her family and friends. RIP.

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  44. My condolences to Dodo's family and friends. It's always hard to lose a loved one.

    Bluehen@5:58: AMEN!.

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  45. TinoTechie,
    Greg: Thanks for the I'iwi information. Will do.

    All birds are amazing, but the i'iwi is truly special and beautiful. We also looked for it in the Saddle Road area of the Big Island but no luck. It may be limited to Maui now.

    Ray

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  46. I attempted to work this toughie in three time periods, about 15 minutes early this am, another 5 this afternoon, and gave up after another 10 tonight. The SE killed me. A Siberian city? Get serious. AYRES, an unknown and even though I did correctly work WHIZ KIDS, HULA, HUES, & UTEP, I would have never put SKED or S-SHAPED.

    But for what I did complete, it was hard. Didn't know EBAN, CIN, PHILLIES, BALZAC, ESTE, or Mearth (but knew Jonathan WINTERS) but worked them out. POTOK and RAI came strictly from the perps as I had never heard of either of them and don't watch Italian ( or very much American) television.

    45D- I knew it was either HUTUS or TUTSI.

    And I think the clue for ZED just plain stinks. Using that analogy the answer could have been PEE. ELL, TEE.

    But in the end, UNCLE.

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  47. Hi All!

    Silk beat me up again esp. down South. @34d I put Whiskey in my Kentucky Compound, that fit beautifully with Whinny and SRI. The only other things I knew were WINTERS (what a hard one y'all had) and KPH. I also knew WhIZKIDS, but didn't realize there was a H in WIZ - dyslexia strikes again.

    I certainly did't PASS MUSTER on this Sat Silkie. I wish I could say it was a SNAP, but TITT. Thanks Splynter for 'splainin'. Anymore I feel I only do a Sat so I can read your writeup.

    I did know ASCAP (known for their fees) at 25a and BRENT Scowcroft @28a - IIRC, he was on his way to Offutt (sp?) AFB on 9/11 and was critical of the Iraq war. Those helped me in the North.

    Oh, Jonathan WINTERS... Here's Williams on WINTERS (It's the cleanest I could find). May they both RIP.

    Cheers, -T

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  48. Oh my... Lucina thank you for passing the sad news. CED thanks for reposting that pic. What a wonderful beautiful group of people. -T

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  49. Member, SOA Society of ActuariesApril 18, 2015 at 10:46 PM

    Being an Actuary, a field of Statistics that deals exclusively with human mortality and morbidity, I am naturally ( though idly), curious about the subset of this blog's participating age group.

    I have judged the main participants in this group - office bearers, bloggers and general responders -- to be about 68.5 years median distribution, with a 54% female to combined readership ratio.

    On the premise that minority participation is less than 6% - despite the fact that your 'leader' is not quite white, I would set as a poisson special gamma, distribution with an avg life for men to be 8.4 additional years and for women to be 12.1 years more.

    So, on a reverse predicted death happening modulus, it may be reasonable to expect, as would be an obit notice, for a man or a woman, in the above proration, every 5.3 months, with a greater than 95 percent predictability factor of precision and 2 degrees of freedom.

    Sp, the next death we can reasonably expect to be announced, should be about this time, next Halloween, or a few days later.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Member, SOA Society of Actuaries,,,

    Interesting, but...

    While I am physically approaching 60, Mentally I am closer to 12...

    Factor that asshole...

    ReplyDelete
  51. CED - Priceless... LMFAO.

    I think his median is off by a bit. I'm fairly certain TTP, Barry G, Rainman, and Steve are in their 40s as am I. Splyter's in his 30's IIRC. Maybe MSOA meant mean age?

    Regardless, we will miss Dodo.

    -T

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  52. Insofar as I can recall, since I joined the Corner in 2010, three people have died, that I know about.

    Clear Ayes
    Dodo
    Eddie

    Does anyone know of anyone else? All were dear people who are missed.

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  53. Yes it was a flat out error by Mr Silk. Red wine does not contain tannic acid. Does contain tannins that are not acids. Acids in wine could include tartaric, malic, citric, buytric, capric, carbonic, formic, lactic, and a few others, but NOT tannic acid.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Good to know there are others who struggled on this one. Took me a couple of days, and I did have to look up one clue (Jackson 5 song covered by Mariah Carey). After I input this answer, everything else fell in place. I should have immediately gotten the 1975 World Series winner. I was at Game 1 of that series, and watched as Bosotn won with the superb masterpiece thrown by Luis Tiant.

    ReplyDelete

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